AndrewHill Posted July 10, 2012 Report Share Posted July 10, 2012 What if Larry Young played on this set, do you think it would've made a difference (and I'm a huge LY fan, but LS brings his own too) or what if he had a trumpeter like Blue, or maybe Lee? Don't know, just kickin' ideas around because I like what I hear, but the (potentiontial) sidemen could send this so much higher. What do you think? (and sorry if this has been discussed before) . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fasstrack Posted July 10, 2012 Report Share Posted July 10, 2012 What if Larry Young played on this set, do you think it would've made a difference (and I'm a huge LY fan, but LS brings his own too) or what if he had a trumpeter like Blue, or maybe Lee? Don't know, just kickin' ideas around because I like what I hear, but the (potentiontial) sidemen could send this so much higher. What do you think? (and sorry if this has been discussed before) . No help needed. Ronnie Cuber lit a big enough fire for 2 people. 8 people. Kept young, talented George on his toes. And Lovelace and the Dr. kicked ass. Ain't broke, don't fix it. Anyway there were plenty of guests on the compilations-like Benson Burner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Al Posted July 11, 2012 Report Share Posted July 11, 2012 Including Blue Mitchell! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertoart Posted July 11, 2012 Report Share Posted July 11, 2012 (edited) Ronnie Cuber was simply a monster player on those Benson sessions. Just an unbelievable virtuoso. I have a recent interview with Benson where he recalls that band and says something like Cuber was 'one of the greatest musicians he could have played with, and makes special mention of him knowing 'the blues' too. I think the obvious response is simply that Larry Young was just a bit deep and advanced conceptually for Benson at that time. The interviews I have heard recently with Benson and Lonnie Smith paint the picture that they were just a couple of young lions out to have fun and play their asses off to the people. Which they did. The basic fallback they had re-material for relying on nascent boogaloo beats and frenetic Blues structures just doesn't match the vision and experience Larry Young had around the same time. The closest he got to that, was the Grant Green sessions he did, but they were way deeper in concept than the younger Benson/Smith band. Benson really matured in his feeling and 'edge' after the Miles Smiles session I think. His playing got a lot deeper in feeling then. It may seem an absurdity to say this, but the early CTI playing he did on Sugar and Beyond The Blue Horizon is really harder and more challenging in some ways than the earlier more 'pure' stuff and it's at this point I could imagine him doing something awesome and 'really' connecting with Larry Young. Even on the Love and Peace session, he still seems like he is stretching to be 'out there' a bit and fit in (though it's one of my favourites). There's an early seventies recording of Lonnie Smith and George Benson doing Impressions that is pretty phenomenal too. Edited July 11, 2012 by freelancer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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